Photo credit, Leyla Jeyte
Sex workers in Mogadishu live in the shadows and their voices are rarely heard (model used in photo).
- Author, Par Mohamed Gabobe et Layla Mahmood
- Role, Mogadishu and London
Two women from Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, have told the BBC how they were drawn into the underground world of sex work in a city that lives under the threat of violence following years of civil war. Their names have been changed to protect their identity.
Mogadishu’s vibrant and bustling Lido Beach offers a glimpse of what the city might become as it attempts to leave conflict behind.
Resorts, upscale restaurants, hotels and fresh produce are all attractions.
But an alternative scene of parties, drugs and sexual violence lingers nearby.
The women involved in this hidden side of the city are young, destitute and often vulnerable in this predominantly Muslim country.
Fardousa, 22, sex worker for three years. She sits in a dark room shaded by red curtains in a bullet-riddled apartment building in the Wardhigley neighborhood of Mogadishu.
Above the screeching sound of the stove, this slender, soft-spoken young woman describes what happened to her.
Fardousa says she left home at 19, a rarity in Somali society where young women do not usually leave their families until they are married. However, mistreatment at home or irreconcilable differences with other family members can push some of them to leave, and this phenomenon seems to be becoming more and more frequent.
“At first, I didn’t see it as an escape, but I mightn’t stand living with my mother-in-law anymore,” says Fardousa.
“She became my father’s second wife following my mother passed away when I was young. She was very violent for years and despite that my father always sided with her.
Photo credit, Leyla Jeyte
Lido Beach in Mogadishu is an essential part of life in the capital, but there is a hidden side nearby.
After leaving home, Fardousa went from place to place and made new friends, whom she thought would look out for her interests: “I thought they were interested in me. With Looking back, I know they weren’t real friends.”
She eventually became addicted to opioids such as morphine, tramadol, and pethidine, and joined the underground party scene at Lido Beach, where she was introduced to sex work.
Fardousa soon found herself embroiled in the shadowy world of Mogadishu, where she wandered from hotels to strangers’ homes and isolated places.
Today, she knows enough potential clients to be able to count on the people who contact her by telephone.
“I wait for my phone to ring and I go out with the men to have sex. Other times my friends call me when they have men ready.
“I needed money for my addiction”
She takes care of a wide variety of clients from all walks of life.
“At first it was all regarding male friends of my female friends, then I started having sex with men I didn’t know. I was vulnerable and needed money for my addiction, like many other young women in this city,” says Fardousa.
Due to its nature, there are no official data on the extent of sex work, but the testimony of Fardousa and others provides insight into the dangerous environment in which many of these young women find themselves.
Hodan has been a sex worker for two and a half years. Like Fardousa, the 23-year-old ran away from home and found herself immersed in Mogadishu’s underground lifestyle of young runaways who have no financial support.
She speaks in a steady, calm voice, above the noise of children playing football outside.
“I spend most of my nights in hotels. The same goes for a lot of these young women. You meet all kinds of men there, but things can get worse when you leave with some of them,” explains Hodan.
Since sex work is illegal in Somalia, many of these young women find themselves in precarious situations, with no possibility of recourse to the authorities.
The BBC asked officials from the police and the Department for Women’s and Human Rights Development to comment on this and other issues raised in the article, but received no response.
Photo credit, Leyla Jeyte
Some sex workers, like Fardousa, now use their phones to get in touch with their clients rather than risk doing so in an unsafe place (model used in image).
“Often the girls come back with marks on their bodies, while other young sex workers are taken advantage of by people they think they trust,” Hodan said.
For Fardousa, this led to violence.
“At first I would go with men to places of their choosing to have sex, but one night I was beaten, my face bruised and I bled. It all started because we didn’t agree on the price,” she says.
“Since then, I no longer go to isolated places with men, whatever the price they offer. It’s too dangerous. I prefer hotels where you know you won’t be hurt and that if we are, our cries for help will be heard.
“Many other women working in the sex industry are not so lucky. The sex workers who accompany these men to their homes or to isolated places are abused and even raped, sometimes by more than one man.
She adds that the assaults are sometimes filmed and that the women are then victims of blackmail.
“They are driven into submission by shame.
Difficult to face his relatives
Hodan explains that this type of filming can happen to sex workers following they have been drugged, with the perpetrators coercing them into sharing their profits.
“If they refuse, the men beat and physically abuse them, and the video is used as a tool once morest them. In some cases, they have even been known to share the video around them to torment young women even more. It’s a form of digital blackmail.”
A recent report by the British television channel Channel 4 documented these forms of blackmail among the Somali female population as a whole, beyond the margins of sex work.
“It’s happened to so many young women I know. Most are too ashamed to admit it, but we all know what’s going on. We’ve lived this way of life long enough,” says Ms Hodan.
A United Nations report found a sharp increase in sexual violence between 2019 and 2020, saying abuse is often exacerbated in conflict zones. He also notes that “weak legislation allows perpetrators to be free, and survivors receive little or no support.”
Women who engage in the sex trade are among the most vulnerable in Somali society, as they are shunned due to their taboo lifestyle, which makes them outcasts.
“In Somalia, women like us have no support system and there is no one to turn to. Social pressure only makes things worse, which is why so many of these vulnerable women are reluctant to get help, especially if they are dealing with addiction issues,” Ms Fardousa adds.
There are several women’s organizations in Somalia, but when contacted by the BBC they declined to comment due to the sensitivity of the subject.
Hodan and Fardousa point out that many women would not engage in such dangerous work if the mechanisms and organizations were in place to support them, which often leads to them being trapped in a violent and exploitative lifestyle.
“Many young girls struggle with drug addiction, which makes them more vulnerable. Many of them don’t even have a place to sleep at night,” says Fardousa.
“They are content to sleep in the streets of the Lido beach and other areas of the city, while others leave with men to find a place to sleep. They are then even more sexually exploited.”
Ms. Fardousa looks over her shoulder and sees a young woman sitting behind her holding a toddler. It is regarding a former sex worker, Amina, who quit following becoming pregnant.
“Amina always tells me to leave this life behind [et de rentrer chez moi], but it’s not that easy. It’s hard to deal with loved ones. I haven’t seen my family for three years.